This is one of the most powerful ideas we’ve seen this year. In order to improve the early detection of breast cancer in Germany, authorities have launched Discovering Hands which trains visually impaired women to do breast cancer detections and screenings.

We know that when people lose their sight their other senses become enhanced and so these women are trained as Medical Tactile Examiners (MTEs) to both detect the early signs of breast cancer and suitably communicate the findings to the patient. A pilot campaign has indicated that the Discovering Hands employees perform better than trained doctors at detecting small early stage tumours. ​Currently only operating in Germany and Austria as a project free for over 5 million women, we believe that this campaign will soon find a home across the world.